Beitenu: Creating a Happy Childhood for Underprivileged Children in Ukraine

In Ukraine, where the average monthly salary is only $78, there are many children whose most basic physical needs are not being fully met. In addition to unmet physical needs, many children lack parental support and guidance during their free time, especially those living in single parent households where the parent works a full-time job. Moreover, there are children who live with their grandparents, and while the latter can and do provide emotional support, in many cases they do not have the physical strength to keep up with children who are full of energy and want to be involved in strenuous physical activities.

In light of the above, JDC decided to encourage and assist local Jewish communities to develop an appropriate response through the program called Beitenu - the Hebrew word meaning "our home". The program, initiated in November 2003, consists of 2 community-based pilot projects for Jewish children-at-risk and 1 community-based pilot project for disabled Jewish children. These projects target the most needy children in Kiev, Cherkassy and Simferopol, particularly elementary-school age children whose parents are drug addicts or alcoholics, and those from single-parent/no parent families. In each location, the Beitenu program has been designed to provide a response to the physical, emotional and social needs of these children and their families.

What are the goals of Beitenu?

1. Provide for the physical needs of needy Jewish children by supplementing their nutrition, clothing, medical care, etc.
2. Provide for their social needs by teaching them social skills within their peer group and within society in general; improving the relationships between children and parents; enhancing their Jewish identity.
3. Provide for their emotional needs, in particular by ensuring positive experiences such as coping with school better, having interesting and fun leisure activities including camping, sports, theater, circus etc.; all of this in a way conducive to each of them realizing their potential to the utmost and overcoming the challenges of their home environment, thereby raising their self-esteem.

Beitenu is being sponsored primarily by JDC Board members Edward and Carol Kaplan.

In Kiev, the project is the result of a collaboration between the Hesed and the Jewish community center (JCC). Beitenu is now working with 8 Jewish children; transportation, meals, medicines, food and clothes are supplied by the Hesed, and the programmatic component – program, schedules and selection of staff – are all the responsibility of the JCC. The children are brought to and from the JCC 4 times a week after school, receive lunch, have computer, chess, theatre, dancing and drawing classes, and are helped with school homework. Twice a week, a psychologist works in the program and on Fridays, there is Kabbalat Shabbat program.

Beitenu in Cherkassy takes care of some 24 disabled Jewish children organized in 3 groups (ages 3-18). Each group is taken to the Hesed, and has a program tailored to the specific needs of the participants, with compulsory inclusion of classes in Jewish history and tradition, art therapy, Jewish dancing and singing, arts and crafts, and psychological counseling. Older children have a chance to communicate with participants in other children's programs run in the Hesed which makes Beitenu children feel part of the general community.

The Beitenu model in Simferopol is different from the others, not only because it involves 19 Jewish children that are either disabled or at-risk, but also because of its integration with non-Jewish institutions. Run by the Hesed, the project is housed in the City Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children and involves both Hesed staff and municipal professionals. As in other Beitenu locations hot lunches, medications and clothes are provided to the children; along with group and individual sessions with psychologists, physical training in the Center's gym, art therapy, lessons in Jewish music, songs and traditions, theatre studio, and home visits to children's parents and grandparents by the project Coordinator and psychologist.

Anna is a 16 year-old school drop out. Her 8 year old brother Vladimir was able to start going to school this fall due to the Beitenu material and developmental support. Both of their parents are disabled due to psychological disorders, and the total household income is $30 per month. Polina told Vera, the Beitenu Coordinator in Simferopol, that she no longer has to clean the local market from 4 until 8 a.m. every morning in order to buy some food for the family, because of the support she and Vladimir receive from Beitenu.